Ethical Absence And Loss Of Human Nature: An Interpretation Of Changing Places From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

David Lodge(1935-) is a famous contemporary British novelist and literary critic. As the first of his campus trilogy, Changing Places has won the Hawthornden Prize and Yorkshire Post Book Award. Based on the intensive reading of the novel and in light of ethical literary criticism, the author tries to undertake a critical reading of the ethical and moral phenomenon in the novel, then probes into the ethical connotations of human nature as well as the writer’s thoughts and views on ethics and morality, thus reveals the social significance of the novel.Ethical literary criticism is a research method to analyze and interpret literary works, to make a study of writers and problems on literature from ethical standpoints.The basic thought of this method is that literature is the special expression of ethical ideas and moral life in a specific historical period and it is the art of ethics in essence.Applying the method of ethical literary criticism to interpret the novel Changing Places is a new attempt. Firstly, the two protagonists forsake their duty and responsibility as professors and academic elites. Their academic researches have become the tool to pursue fame and fortune, which leads to the loss of their ethical identity. Secondly, the two protagonists violate the ethical taboo of humankind.“Changing places” of the two couples, the twisted parents-children relationship and extramarital affairs are depicted to present the abnormal family ethical relationship,which seriously destroys the family ethical norms symbolizing human civilization.However, the rapid changes of social environment at that time have subverted traditional ethical and moral norms. Human beings are caught in a dilemma between their free will and ethical order, hence ethical choice has been painful. In the novel, it is presented with the indifference and alienation of interpersonal relationship, the hypocrisy and corruption of higher education system as well as the rampancy of the Sexual Liberation Movement. The valuable ethical and moral system formed in the long process of human society is confronted with the crisis of disintegration, which will turn the human society backward.David Lodge offers his literary narration about the ethical crisis in the universities which cultivate social elites and criticizes the ethical absence and loss of human nature in the contemporary society. This demonstrates the writer’s deep concern and thoughts on the spiritual crisis prevailing in the western society. The study on the novel will take the effect of warning and introspection for thedevelopment of modern society. It reminds human beings not to lose human nature for selfish desire, instead positively seeking for the way to get out of the predicament of loss of human nature.